


Moviestar, huh?

by risenfrommyimagination



Category: British Actor RPF, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), tom holland Fandom
Genre: Actor Tom Holland, Autumn, Cold Weather, Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/M, Gentle Kissing, Kissing, Love, Mocking, Neck Kissing, Pet Names, Rain, Sleepy Boys, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Kisses, tom holland - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 03:23:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21068006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risenfrommyimagination/pseuds/risenfrommyimagination
Summary: It's the most british autumn you could imagine: colourful leaves, Tessa playing with them and Tom is back home, exhausted from shooting his last movie.





	Moviestar, huh?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for clicking on this short story, hope you like it :)   
If you want, check out my other stories.

Soft wind blows through the air, tousling through my hair and the treetops. Leaves in the colour, reminding me of the collection of red, brown, yellow and orange pencils I used to have as a child, are whirling up through the air, contrasting against the blue sky, pervaded by greyish clouds, blocking the sun. The leaves are slowly sinking down to the ground, almost gracefully, joining the other hundreds, thousands of leaves covering the path in front of me. It’s so peaceful here. The rustling of the leaves under my steps, the rushing of the wind through the trees. And then, a grey dog suddenly speeding past me, throwing herself in a pile of leaves, starting to roll around.

“Ugh, Tessa no.” A man - ok my boyfriend, let’s get over this - stops next to me, running his right hand through his curly, today really wild hair, while watching Tessa rolling around in the leaves, making happy grunting noises. “Don’t know what’s wrong with her today. I chased her around two trees for like ten minutes.”   
“Yeah, I’ve been waiting and watching you.” I grin at him, bumping my shoulder against his. He didn’t even look like he was out of breath, not even a sign of sweat on his forehead. I would have died during the first two minutes of this chasing game. “She’s probably just happy to have you back.”

Tom laughs. “Maybe. Or she is just happy that it’s the first nice day since...days.”   
“Yeah, we didn’t have the nice sunny weather like you, _movie star_.” I mock him and he sighs, turning to me. “Really?”   
“What?” Not that I didn’t know what he meant.   
“I am back for about one day.” “I know, I can count.” Tom again, rolls his soft brown eyes. “And you’re using this word against me?”   
“L.A?” I try so hard to keep my face as straight as I can and earn a sigh from him.   
“No.”   
“Do I have to go through every word and ask you?” My lips curl dangerously. “Moviestar.”

Tom stares at me and I see the Fuck you on his lips and then he just grabs me by the waist, pulling me to him. My heartbeat stops for a moment, a brief second, as our eyes meet and I feel his fingers grabbing me a little bit harder. “Movie star huh?” His lips curl slightly. “Really?” I feel his fingers wandering up and down my waist, teasing my ticklish spot. _Oh no. _

“Tom…”   
“What?” The smile on his lips turns from soft into a slightly nasty one. “You really think you can call me this, _darling_?” Although this is a very and highly risky situation, a tingling shiver runs down my spine as he almost whispers the last word in his perfect London accent. “Tom, I…”   
“Oh no.” He smirks, starting to tickle me right in my ticklish spot and I flinch, trying to get away from him, squealing a little bit. “Tom!”   
“No.” A arm wraps around my waist from behind, as I try to run away, the other hand is still tickling me, while I try to push him away and catching my breath. “Please.”   
“What?” His warm breath brushes over my cheek. “I am sorry.”

My breath is quivering a little bit – yes, my stamina is _really_ bad. “Really?”   
“Hmm?” I am able to loosen up his arm a little. “Moviestar.”

Before he can react, I run away, leaves rustling under my feet. “Oh no.” Not even ten seconds later, one of his arms wraps around my waist again, making me almost stumble and he starts to tickle me again. “Tom, no.” I giggle, while Tessa is running in circles around us, probably thinking we’d play with her now. “Tessa, help me.” She lets out a bark, throwing herself against my legs, making me stumble and this time, successfully.

Leaves aren’t as soft as you think, especially when you fall down on them like me, followed by your boyfriend landing on you.

“Fuck, sorry.” Tom props himself up a little, while Tessa is still jumping around us, barking. “Tessa, stop.” She goes quiet immediately and I sit up a little. “Are you ok?”   
“Yeah, it’s just...the ground.” I brush away some leaves, getting back up on my feet. “Landed on more uncomfortable things.”   
“Ok.” Tom laughs, his eyes wandering over my face. “Wait, you’ve got some leaves here…” Carefully, he picks some leaves out of my hair, his fingertips brushing over my skin in a few stops, setting it under a slow, burning fire. How I missed his hands on mine. I almost craved his touch. Tom came home one and a half days ago from a four-week re-shooting trip in the USA, totally drained and fell asleep almost immediately in our bed. There hasn’t been much cuddling, touching or kissing. “Ok, done.”

His fingers rest on my cheek for a second.

  
“Am I looking presentable again?”, I joke and he grins. “No.”   
“Back at making compliments, thank you Holland.” My hand bumps against his shoulder and Tom catches it, interlacing his fingers with mine. “You always look presentable.”

“Let’s talk about this again when we’re rocking our no bra and no pants look.”   
“Still then.” He brushes away some strands of hair out of my face and I grin. “Cheesy.”   
“Don’t tell me you missed it.”   
“You, yes.” A smile curls at his lips. “A lot.”

A lot was maybe a little bit understated.

“I know.” His fingertips wander over my cheek, stopping right at the corner of my lips. “Me too.” Our eyes meet and I immediately get this butterfly tingling feeling in my stomach.

“Come here.” I mumble, leaning into him, wrapping my arms around his upper body, burying my face in the crook of his shoulder. It doesn’t take a second for him to pull me even closer to him, his lips gently pressing against my cheek, placing small, soft kisses on my skin. “God, I missed you so much.”

Tessa is grunting next to us. “Shut up Tess, this is not your moment.”

My laughter is stifled by his sweatshirt and I look up “Missed you too bub.”   
“I know.” Tom leans his head against mine, our lips just slightly away from each-others.   
“All of this.”   
“Also, that I did just sleep yesterday?” I shrug. “You looked cute.” “How many photos did you take?”   
“None…?” Tom hits the spot right there and I feel my cheeks blushing. A soft chuckle. “More like ten, right?”   
“Three”, I mumble and he chuckles even more. “This is really cute.”   
“Shut up.”

“Ok.” His lips softly crash against mine and with all the tingling taking over my body, I now really feel like in one of those cheesy teenage romance movies, where the boy kisses a girl just to make her stop shouting at him. Which is, in retrospect, very disrespectful, but not in this situation right now. We part. Slowly. I can see the smile on his lips, turning my knees into a wobbly mass. And then I see the dark rings under his eyes, the shade of beard stubbles on his face, which is so unusual for him. He looks so drained. More than he usually does after his shoots. And I worried about him, a lot. Since months, actually. We spoke about this, yes. About the endless hours of working out, him being on the road constantly, putting so much effort and strength in his work. His strict diet and him becoming slimmer and slimmer.

And I would lie if I didn’t notice him sleeping less than usual, being up late to learn his script. Although this belonged to his job, I worried about him.   
“Everything ok?” Tom apparently noticed me staring at him.   
“Yeah...I just…” I bite my lip. “Not the nicest thing to say, but you look exhausted.”   
“I am.” His lips curl slightly. “And I know my mom will complain about my look so much later.”   
“Thomas, you should really do something with your hair”, I imitate his mother’s voice and he laughs. “Exactly like this, but I love her.”

“I love her, too” Our eyes meet again and he smiles at me. We could say the three words to each other right now, too, but this would be just too cheesy. We both know. And it’s not that he whispered those three exact words to me last night, half asleep, his lips pressed against my neck.

“Wanna walk a little bit more?” Tom grabs my hand. “We still have some time until dinner.”   
“How I could say no?” A soft chuckle from him and he clicks his tongue. “Come on Tess.”

Tessa, happy to be the centre of attention again, jumps up and starts walking, her nose hovering over the ground. We follow her a few steps behind, our hands intertwined. The park is so empty, emptier than usual, but I don’t mind. It’s nice to have some undisturbed time with Tom, especially when visiting his family right after.   
“I missed Britain.” Tom sighs silently. “It was so hot in L.A.”   
“You missed the cold?”   
“It’s not cold.” Something wet hits my face and I look up. “Cold and rainy.”   
“Probably just a few drops.” Tom pulls me a little closer, placing a small kiss on my forehead. “You won’t die because of this.”

“I know.” I bite my lip. Not that I loved being outside with him, but I would also not complain about just cuddling up at the couch, watching some movies on Netflix and making out. The rain becomes a little more and I look up to the sky again. There more grey clouds than a few minutes before. And they are disturbingly dark.   
“Don’t you think we should like...go home?” Tom stop, his eyes also looking at the sky. “Maybe?”   
  
A gust of wind blows the rain directly on us and he twitches his face. “Ok, let’s get home.” He clicks his tongue. “Tessa baby, come on.” Tessa, sniffing something on the ground, looks up. “Come here.” But she doesn’t move and the rain gets distinctively heavier. “Tessa, really.”

Tom sighs, making a step towards her and she jumps back. “No, we don’t play games right now.” Tessa looks at him, her tail up in the air, wagging. “No, come here.” I already can feel the rain soaking through my sweatshirt and Tom makes another step towards Tessa. This time, she stays still. “Good girl.” He attaches the leash on her collar. “Come on.” Grudging, but cooperating, Tessa follows him and Tom grabs my hand. “Let’s go.”

  
To say that we got wet a little is maybe a little bit understated. Small puddles of water are building around our feet, as we get out of our shoes in the hallway.   
“Hello? Tom?” Nikki comes down the stairs, stopping on the bottom one. “What happened to you?” “  
Rain.” Tom unhooks Tessa’s leash. “Somehow we got into a storm.”   
“Yeah I see that.” Her eyes wander over our clothes, which are clinging to our bodies. “Get in the bathroom, I’ll bring you some dry clothes ok?”   
“Thank you.“ Tom looks at Tessa, who is standing next to us, also dripping. “We need to take care of you, too huh?”   
She looks at him with her big brown eyes and he laughs. “Ok come on.”

We go upstairs, Tessa squeezing herself past us, leaving a little trail of water behind her. “She already knows what’s up.” I grin, seeing her directly heading to the bathroom. “Yeah, the little princess doesn’t like being wet.” Tom stops in front of the small cupboard next to the bathroom door, opening the upper drawer and pulling out two towels. “One for you.”   
“Thank you.”

The wind is smashing the rain against the bathroom window. “Oh wow.”   
“Yeah, glad we did run.” I get on my knees in front of Tessa. “Which didn’t really help, but…”   
“At least we didn’t get blown away.” Tom starts rubbing the towel over Tessa, which she answers with a pleasant grunt. “Yeah, you like that huh?”

I dry her feet, then her front legs, up her neck. Slowly, I feel cold in my wet clothes. The fabric is clinging to my skin and although it was kind of funny running through the rain, I now just want to get out.

“Ok Tess, you are done.” Tom pets Tessa’s head and gets up. “And now, look for mom. She’ll have some snacks for you.”

Tessa’s ears twitch a little at snacks, then walks through the door and Tom closes it.   
“So.” My boyfriend looks down on himself. “I need to get out of this.”   
“Me too.” Without waiting, I pull up the sweater I am wearing and taking it off, including the t-shirt I was wearing underneath, throwing it on the ground. Tom has also already taken off his sweater and shirt, showing me his bare back. I stop for a moment, appreciating the really beautiful view of his back, the tiny muscles moving when he hangs up his shirt. My eyes wander down, over the waistband of his boxers, to his butt, which is looking even better in the wet pants sticking to it. Not that it didn’t look good before, but now. He turns back around and I open the bottom of my jeans, trying to pull them down, although they are clinging to my skin even more than dry. They land next to my hoodie and I bend down a little, taking off my wet socks.

Grabbing my wet clothes to hang them up, I notice Tom standing there in just his boxers, staring at me.   
“What?” I smirk at him, starting to hang up my clothes. “Nothing.” He answers my smirk and I catch myself staring at his chest maybe for a second too long and he laughs.   
“You are staring, too.”   
“Maybe.” I shrug, hanging up my sweatshirt. “Haven’t seen you in quite a while.”   
“I don’t mind being stared at.” From the corners of my eyes, I can see him leaning against the shower cabin, flexing his muscles a little bit. I look at him, at the cheeky grin on his lips, his hair falling into his face. My eyes are wandering down, over his chest, his abs, to the defined v-line on his abdomen, stopping at the waistband of his boxers. Maybe my eyes slipped down for a second.

_Maybe._

“Like what you’re seeing?” The taunting undertone in his voice makes me grin, although I want to roll my eyes, because he did this so obviously on purpose.   
"Definitely not." I roll my eyes. "That's why I need you to take off those boxers, too." "Oh really?" He arches his eyebrows and I nod.   
"Yeah, it's really rude to my eyes." Slowly, I let my fingers run down his stomach, slipping them under it and then letting it go. "But..."   
I shrug, turn around to grab a towel for my hair. "Rude huh?" His hand slightly smacks my butt, causing my lower abdomen to flinch, sending arousing shivers through my body.

"Thomas Stanley Holland." I spin around on my feet, looking directly in this cheeky grin on his face. "You dare to smack my butt?"   
"Oh yes." He grins, his fingers gently grabbing around it. "You're rude, too."   
"Sorry." Almost elegant, I bend to the towel I didn't grab before.   
"Really rude." His voice right next to my ear, causing a shiver to run down my spine. The touch of his fingers on my skin makes me shiver a little, but also crave for more.   
"Being so absolutely stunning." Gently, Tom places a fond kiss on my neck, hitting my sweet spot and a soft moan coaxes over my lip. "Tom..."

"Sorry." Another kiss tight on my spot and I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, enjoying the sweet tingling in my body.   
“You’re not.”   
He laughs, lips pressed against my skin, lightly vibrating. “Maybe not.” Gently, he puffs against my sweet spot, tickling it even more and bend forward, away from him, but giggling. His hands find their way on my hips, turning me around to him.

"Oh hello." This endearing smile on his lips makes my stomach flutter, my heart going crazy. Still, after all this time. "Hey."   
My voice is cracking up a little, as I almost lose myself in his fawn eyes. "Do you come here often?" A slight wiggle with his eyebrows, he winks at me.   
"Well..." The skin under my fingertips is soft, as they wander over his shoulder to his neck, to the soft curls on the back of it. "Sometimes, with my boyfriend."   
"Uh, you're boyfriend?" Tom's hands pull me closer, fingers tracing over my skin, my back, wandering down. Him, touching me, is enough to melt me completely. "Yeah..."

Our eyes interlock, sending a mass of butterflies through my stomach. "He is such a tease." A smirk on his beautiful lips. "Oh, he is?"  
I can feel his fingers gently tracing over my butt gently, grabbing it firmly "Yes." My hands bury themselves in his hair, which is already almost back at being dry. "A really good one."

The smirk is fading into a grin, I feel his left hand wandering up my back, pressing my body just lightly against his. Skin on skin. Enough to send a shiver through my body. It had been too long. Not that I didn’t know how to help myself when he was away, not that we didn’t send us horny and needy messages in whatever situation and texts turning into photos of him in boxer shorts in bed.   
“Darling?” Soft lips on my cheek, tickling the corner of my mouth.   
“Hm?” His eyes meet mine, setting free another mass of butterflies in my stomach and I just lean forward. My lips are crashing on his, instantly molding with his and Tom pulls me even closer, the hand in the small of my back pressing my body against his. Our lips part for a second, just to crash against each other more longingly. I bury my hands deeper in his curls, pulling his him to me, our pelvises bumping against each other. My back hits the cool wall, his hand wandering from my back over the curve of my hip to the hem of my panties, making me gasp lightly.

  
"Tom?" A knock on the door. "Are you two alive in there?"   
Tom sighs in the kiss. "No."   
"Hello?" Another knock and he groans against my lips. Even this arouses me. "Yeah we're in here."   
"I've got some fresh clothes for you."   
"Yeah, second." Tom backs up and my eyes fall on the visible bulge in his tight boxers. "Sorry."   
"For what?" I grin, my gaze still lightly glued to his boxers. "Not for this."   
A sigh slips over his curling lips. "What?" I roll my eyes, slowly following him to the door.   
"Nothing." He opens the door, trying to hide his lower body behind it. "Sorry."

"I've got some from Sam for you and for Mia some from me." "Thank you." I smile at her, while my left hand gently grasps around Tom's left buttcheek, softly smacking it a little. "Thanks mum."

"I'll make you some tea ok?" Nikki looks as us. "And I set up the fireplace, so you don't get sick." My hand is wandering a little around his hip, playing with the hem of his boxers.   
"Thanks." Tom's voice is surprisingly steady, although I know I was teasing him hard. "We'll be down in a minute."   
"Ok." She hands him the stack of clothes and he closes the door, turning to me. "You."   
I look at him. "Me?" His lips curl into a smile. "You are a fucking tease darling."

A soft kiss, placed right next to my ear. "And if there wasn't mum waiting for us, I'd do something completely different." The raspy undertone in his voice runs a longing shiver down my spine, right into my lower abdomen. "I know..." My fingers are grasping the hem of his boxers again and I really have to hold back myself to not pull them down. "Let's... come back to this later."

His smile grows broader. "Oh, we will."

The wind is still whipping the rain against the windows in the living room, whistling and howling around the corners. “Oh here you are.” Nikki, standing behind the kitchen island. “Tea is almost ready.”

“Thanks mum.” Tom goes around the island, opening one of the upper cupboards to take out two cups. “You want one, too?”   
“No, I’ll leave in a second. Sam arrives in ten minutes and I promised to pick him up because of the weather.” She grabs her bag and a pair of keys from the bowl standing on the counter. “Also, Harry is coming home soon, if he does before us, please tell him to not hang his coat in the hallway, but in the bathroom ok?”

“I will.” Tom pours tea in the two mugs. “Drive safely ok? It’s looking rough outside.”   
“Don’t worry, isn’t my first bad weather out here.” Nikki kisses him on the cheek. “Bye darling.”   
“Bye mum.”   
“Bye.” I wave her goodbye, as she passes me.   
“So…” Tom places the two mugs next to me, leaning himself a little bit against the counter. “It seems we’re alone for about fifteen minutes.”   
I look at him, eyebrows arched a little bit. “What do you want to do?” He bends to me slightly, this endearing smirk on his face. “Something very g-rated.”

“Oh I am intrigued.” I raise my eyebrows and he leans even more into me.   
“Ok.” His breath tickles my earlobe, a soft raspness in his voice. “Fireplace and cuddles?”   
A smile hushes over my lips. “You are such a dork.”   
Tom smirks. “Meaning?”   
“Absolutely yes.”   
“Good.” Holding the two mugs, he walks over to the big grey couch and I follow him. “Oh here you are baby.”

Baby aka Tessa, is lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, not even bothering to look at us as we go past her to the couch. “She is tired.”   
“Me too.” Tom sighs lightly, as he places down the mugs on the coffee table, then falling back into the couch, his head sinking into the cushions. I sit down next to him, propping myself a little on the backrest of the couch, looking at him. His eyes are closed, lips pressed together slightly and I can see his jaw clenching.

“Tom…” I slide a little closer, my hand carefully laying on his chest. “What’s wrong?”

His eyelids are fluttering, brown eyes meeting mine as he opens them. “I am just…exhausted.”   
“I know.” My left hand fondly strokes through his hair, tousling through the soft curls. “I see that.” Tom sighs heavily, leaning to me, burying his head in the crook of my neck.   
  
“I am sorry.”  
“For what?”   
“For not being _the_ boyfriend I want to be.”   
“Don’t.” I shake my head, running my fingers through his hair even fonder. “You are the boyfriend.”   
“I am not.” Tom lifts his head up a little and my heart wrenches a bit as I see his eyes glistening. “I just feel awful.”

It breaks my heart to see him like this. Exhausted, almost crying, looking like a mess.   
“Hey.” I lean to him, cupping his face with my hands. “I love you.” Tom’s lips curl into a tender smile, strands of his curly hair falling into his face while he is shaking is head.   
“How did I deserve you?”   
“You probably got some good karma in your old life.” I brush some of them back, my fingers wandering down his neck.   
“Maybe.” He shrugs a little. “But I hit the jackpot, so I don’t complain.”

Warmth spreads on my cheeks, but I snort to play it off. “Cheesy.”   
“Oh come on.” Tom grins, leaning to me. “I see that you’re blushing.”   
“I am not.”   
“Oh you are.” A soft peck on my lips. “I have two very tired, but still perfectly working eyes.”   
“Beautiful eyes.”   
“Cheesy.” He imitates my tone and I roll my eyes, making him giggle. “See?”   
“What?”   
“You are, too.”   
I raise my eyebrows questioning.   
“Cheesy.” Tom’s index finger traces over my jaw. “And I’d absolutely lie if I say I don’t love you for being like that.”

Fluttering in my stomach, my lips curl. “Then don’t.”   
“Ok.” His warm breath brushes over my lips. “I love you.”

Instead of an answer, our lips melt together into a long, slow kiss. Full of love and the feeling of finally being home again. Tom’s hands cup my face, pulling me closer, deepening the kiss and my heart is bursting. “Cuddles?” Softly whispered against my lips and I nod.

We sink down in the cushions, our bodies snuggling up to each other, Tom laying on me, his face buried in the crook of my neck. A simple, soft kiss on my neck right above the collar of the sweater his mom gave me, shivers running down my spine. My fingers are again, running through his curly hair and he moans lightly, wrapping his arms around me. I love his hair, especially when it’s so long, curly and completely not straightened. Not that I didn’t love it styled, but like this, it was also perfect.

The fire in the oven is lightly cracking, some sparks of fire are dusting up and I feel my whole body relaxing. Tom has his eyes closed, his long lashes fluttering slightly and I lean to him, pressing a soft kiss on his forehead.   
  
“God I am so lucky.” His voice is merely audible, but it’s enough for me to hear it. “Me too.” My fingers playing with his hair make him moan again and his lips find their way on my cheek. In the hallway, a door closes, keys are jingling and Tessa lifts her head, her eyes twitching a little bit. 

“Hello?” Steps are coming closer. “Anyone home?”   
Harry appears in the doorframe, noticing us. “Hey you two.”   
“Hey.” I wave at him with my free hand and he comes a little closer to peek over the backrest. “Ah my beloved brother is also here, but seemingly barely alive.”   
Tom’s eyes open and I can see the will to hit his brother in them. “Mom said you have to hang up your coat in the bathroom.”   
“Yeah, nice to see you, too.” Harry rolls his eyes, then turns around. “See you later.”

Tom sighs. “I tried.”

  
“Hello, we’re back home.” Again, the entrance door closes, but now there are more steps in the hallway and Tessa jumps up, leaving her place in front of the fire.   
“Tom? Mia?” Nikki enters the living room and immediately stops, as she sees us lying there. “Oh sorry, did I wake you up?”   
“No.” Tom groans lightly and sits up. “Hey Sam.”   
“Hey bud.” They hug and I sit up, too, to hug Sam. “Hey, nice to see you.”   
“You, too.” Sam shoulders the bag he is carrying. “Gonna get back home, I’ll be down in fifteen ok? And then you tell me everything.”   
“Sure.” Tom rubs his eyes, yawning.

“Mia, could you help me for a second?” Nikki looks at me with these obvious eyes, telling me she wanted something from me and I get up. “Sure.”   
“You’re leaving me?” Tom pouts.   
“No.” I tousle through his already messy hair. “Be right back.”

“Sorry, didn’t want to disturb you.” Nikki pulls me in the hallway, out of reach from Tom. “But this should be a surprise for Tom.”   
“Ok?” I put back a strand of hair behind my ear.

“So, you know we couldn’t celebrate his birthday properly, because he was away.” Nikki starts to explain and I nod. I remember how this day went, exactly. Tom had been heartbroken and really sad, although he could celebrate with some of his friends in the US. “And since this is the first time he is home for longer than one week and all of our family has time to come down to London, we want to surprise him tomorrow morning.”

My heart grows a little bigger. Nikki is such a sweetheart. “And what should I do?”   
“Not letting him out of the room until half past ten.” She looks at me. “We want to set up everything, get everyone in to surprise him.”   
“Sure.” I nod. “I think I can do this.” Images are flooding my head and I bite my lip to not smirk in front of Nikki, although she already could figure out my plan.   
“Great, thank you.” She smiles at me. “And please, tell him to put on pants.”

I chuckle. “I will. I think he also doesn’t want to repeat the situation on Christmas last year.” Last year, Tom walked in on all of his relatives sitting in the kitchen, just wearing really tight boxers. And maybe we did make out before, so that they were just sitting even tighter.

“Good, thank you.” Her hand lays on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s get back to him before he starts complaining.”

We go back into the living area, but I stop at the sight of Tom, curled up on the couch, his eyes closed. “I think he isn’t able to complain right now.”   
“Hmmm?” Nikki steps next to me, then laughs lightly. “Well seems like he fell asleep.”   
“I don’t understand how, but it’s good for him.” I pull my bottom lip between my teeth. “He hasn’t been doing something since sleeping and eating.”   
Nikki’s eyes rest on her son for a second. “He is working a lot.”   
“A little too much for my taste.”   
“For mine, too.”   
She sighs. “He needs a break.”

I nod, slowly. “I tell him all the time, but yeah…”   
“Haven’t you told me about some kind of vacation?” Nikki walks behind the kitchen island, opening the refrigerator. “Spain or so?”   
“Yeah, we talked about that, but…” I shrug. We actually did, but weeks ago, before he went on his shooting trip. And we also looked for flights, hotels and other stuff, but never booked anything. And then everything became really stressful and the idea of going on a vacation vanished.

“Talk to him.” Nikki puts some vegetables on the counter. “He needs it. With you.”

Her saying this to me warms my heart. “I will.” I smile at her. “But now he needs to sleep.”   
“Oh he does.” She laughs, starting cut up the potatoes in front of her. “Can I help you?”   
“No. Enjoy your time with Tom, it’s not much to do.”

“If you need some, tell me.” I grab my bag, which I left in the house before we went out with Tessa, and tiptoe my way back to the couch, avoiding everything to wake up my boyfriend. Carefully, I sit down on the couch, trying to disturb him as little as possible. Tom has pulled a blanket from the basket next to the couch and snuggled up in it, so that it basically covers his whole body and I wish I could just cuddle up to him under it. But this would wake him up and he needs this ten, maybe twenty minutes of sleep. My eyes rest a second on his face. He looks so relaxed and innocent, not at all stressed or exhausted. Oh, how I wished I could just slip under the blanket, but I shouldn’t.

Instead, I pull out a book for my classes from my bag, opening it at the page I marked it. The sound of Nikki cutting up the vegetables mixes with the cracking of the wood in the oven and I fix my eyes on the words in front of me. _Music and Feminism in the industry_   
My eyes are wandering over the paragraph, explaining the hierarchy of a music label, but I don’t understand a single word, neither the whole context. They are just words. Next to me, Tom moves a little, his feet bumping against my thigh, but he doesn’t wake up. Focus. I read the paragraph again, sentence by sentence.

Again, Tom moves a little and from the corners of my eyes, I see him propping himself up a little. “He.”   
I look up and yes, he is awake. Barely, but he is. “Hey.”   
“Eh”, he repeats slowly, leaning to me, grabbing the book out of my hands. “We said no university stuff.”   
“You were asleep, I…”   
“I don’t care.” His arms wrap around my waist, soft lips on my cheek. “Cuddles.”

Tom pulls me down with him, on his chest, our legs intertwined, now my head in the crook of his neck. “Better.” With his right hand, he pulls the blanket over us, the left is resting in my neck, playing with my hair. I curl up to him, my left hand under the blanket, slowly slipping under his hoodie, finding its familiar place. “Comfortable?”   
Tom’s lips brush over my forehead and I nod. “You?”   
“Absolutely.” Under the blanket, his left hand also wanders below the hem of my sweater, his fingers leaving a soft tickling trail on my skin.   
  
“Good.” I peck a little kiss on his cheek and he groans. “What?”   
“One more.” He leans to me, his lips puckered and I grin. “Get it yourself.”   
“With pleasure.” A fond kiss on my lips, then another and I chuckle. “One huh?”   
“Couldn’t resist.” Tom presses a soft kiss on my forehead. “Not you.”

A burst of happiness rushes through my body, making me smile so badly and I close my eyes, snuggling up even more to him. For a minute or two, it’s calmingly quiet in the room, just the crackling of the fire and Nikki still cutting the vegetables. My body is relaxing, same as Tom’s. I can feel his muscles becoming less and less tense, his breath slowing down. And then someone comes down the stairs, stamping.   
  
“Harry.” Nikki hisses. “Quiet.”   
“Why?”   
“Couch.” Steps come closer. “Ugh. They are worse than Sam and Ely.”   
“Harry.” Nikki sighs. “Let them alone.”   
“Yeah, yeah.” He mumbles something inaudible and I hear Tom sighing lightly. “Such an idiot.”   
“He is your brother remember. Same blood.”   
“Eh.” Under the blanket, Tom pokes me a little and I giggle. “I am not an idiot.”   
“You are.” I place a fond kiss on his cheek. “But my idiot.”


End file.
